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Cinemas in dire straits

Devise scheme to provide financial support to the owners


Bangladeshpost
Published : 23 Dec 2020 08:47 PM

It is worrying for the Bangladeshi Film Industry as well as saddening for the movie lovers that the number of cinema halls in the country has dropped remarkably over the last years. Reportedly, there were about 1200 cinema halls across the country, but now there are only 200 to 250 cinema halls. On top of that, the closure of cinema halls due to Covid-19 has overwhelmed the film industry bringing losses for producers, actors, directors, associated casts.

However, it is encouraging to note that the executive committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) chairperson and prime minister Sheikh Hasina earlier planned to create a special fund to provide financial support to the owners of cinema halls in order to revive their business.

Cinema halls are the lifeline of the film industry. Gone are the days when cinema halls were the only place where films were screened and people used to go with full family members to watch those films. However, the quality of the films has deteriorated and people have started depending on satellite television channels and internet for entertainment.

Cinema halls are the lifeline of the film industry


Now, we can watch movie, short film, drama, serial, documentary, cartoon etc.  from all over the world on hand-held services. It needs no mentioning that such practice is injecting the sky culture among people of every walk of life in Bangladesh. It is disheartening to learn that the trend of copying commercial films of other countries is dominating our film industry. Such trend, not to mention, has gradually deteriorated the quality of our locally produced movies over time.

Film is a very powerful media of communication which signifies a country’s cultural identity. Therefore, reviving the cinema hall culture of Bangladesh comes up as a national priority and in this regard, we need to ensure quality production and spur competition among the film makers.